Giusti Ranks #19, Applauds the MMRF Community and Partners for Helping Develop Model for How Cancer Cures Can Be Found

Norwalk, CT — March 20, 2014

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) is proud to announce that its Founder and CEO, Kathy Giusti, has been included in FORTUNE Magazine’s first-ever “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” list. Other leaders include Pope Francis (#1), Warren Buffet (#4), President Bill Clinton (#5) and the Dalai Lama (#9).

“The MMRF congratulates Kathy on this achievement, and joins with her in thanking our outstanding collaborators, our patient community and all supporters for their steadfast partnership in the urgent pursuit of a cure,” said Walter M. Capone, President of the MMRF.

FORTUNE Editors write about the new list: “In an era that feels starved for leadership, we’ve found men and women who will inspire you—some famous, others little known, all of them energizing their followers and making the world better… On six continents—in business, government, the military, philanthropy, religion—we identified men and women, young and old, who are leading the way people want to be led.”

“Kathy’s contributions to multiple myeloma embody what a leader should stand for in this field as a champion of collaborative research tied to a visionary plan that has produced models to fight all types of cancers,” said William S. Dalton, Ph.D., M.D., Director of The DeBartolo Family Personalized Medicine Institute, Moffitt Cancer Center and CEO, M2Gen. “Her ability to apply cutting-edge technology to collect, aggregate, and share big data has become the benchmark on how cancer research should be done now and into the future.”

Note: On how the list was selected, FORTUNE Senior Editor-at-Large Geoff Colvin writes: “We cast our net broadly to include leaders of strictly hierarchical organizations (including the Marines) as well as others whose followers may owe no formal duty to the leader but who look to that person for inspiration and guidance… We have drawn a distinction between leaders and people who are admirable and powerful but who are not transformative leaders. Simply running a large organization or serving in an influential role does not meet the threshold to be on this list. All candidates had to be currently active; thus no retirees or recently deceased great leaders, such as Nelson Mandela. We asked several noted leadership experts to suggest candidates, combined their ideas with others turned up by Fortune reporters, and vetted our nominees with experts in their respective fields. Then we made our final judgments based on the reality that while leadership can’t be measured, we all know it when we see it.”

About Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cell. It is the second most common blood cancer. An estimated 24,050 adults (13,500 men and 10,550 women) in the United States will be diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2014 and an estimated 11,090 people are predicted to die from the disease. The five-year survival rate for multiple myeloma is approximately 43%, versus 28% in 1998.

About the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF)
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) was established in 1998 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization by twin sisters Karen Andrews and Kathy Giusti, soon after Kathy’s diagnosis with multiple myeloma. The mission of the MMRF is to relentlessly pursue innovative means that accelerate the development of next-generation multiple myeloma treatments to extend the lives of patients and lead to a cure. As the world’s number-one private funder of multiple myeloma research, the MMRF has raised $250 million since its inception and directs 90% of total budget to research and related programming. As a result, the MMRF has been awarded Charity Navigator’s coveted four-star rating for 11 consecutive years, the highest designation for outstanding fiscal responsibility and exceptional efficiency. For more information about the MMRF, please visit: www.themmrf.org.